


Y^ Antient Wrecke. — 1626. 



LOSS 



SPARROW-HAWK IN 1626. 



REMAEKABLE PRESERVATION 



RECENT DISCOVERY OF THE WRECK. 



BOSTON: 
PRINTED BY ALFRED MUDGE & SON, 

34 SSoTiool Street. 
180.1. 



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Y"^ Antient Wrecke. — 1626. 



LOSS 



SPARROW-HAWK IN 1626. 



EEMAEKABLE PEESEEVATION 



RECENT DISCOVERY OF THE WRECK. 



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BOSTON: 
PRINTED BY ALFRED MUDGE & SON, 

34 Scliool Street. 

^^^ 1865. 







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THE ANCIENT WEECK. 



CHAPTER I. 

iNTEODtrCTOUT SkETCH, — REMOVAL OF THE HuLL TO BoSTON. — 

Communication prom Messrs. Dolliveb, and Sleeper. — 
Statement of D. J. Lawlor, Esq. — Model and Draught. 

IHE wreck of the Sparrow-Hawk, wliicb. was dis- 
covered in 1863, may be justly regarded as one of 
the greatest curiosities of the age. This ship sailed from 
England for Yirginia, in the fall of 1626, with a large 
number of emigrants. After a long passage, she went 
ashore on Cape Cod, and was there finally wrecked in 
a place then known as Potanumaquut Harbor. De- 
tails of her passage and loss, and the subsequent 
career of her passengers, have been preserved by 
contemporary historians, from whom we shall make 
brief extracts in the course of this work. 

From the several local histories of the Capo, the 
posthumous edition of Thoreau's work, and an impor- 
tant note from Professor Agassiz, the public have been 
made aware of the continuous geological changes of 
that remarkable mass of drift, which we denominate 
" Cape Cod." The statements of these various authors 
arc singularly elucidated and confirmed by the history 



4 THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

of " The Ancient Wreck." The preservation and dis- 
covery of the Sparrow-Hawk present facts of startling 
interest to all, — but especially to those who are 
acquainted with the minutiaa of early colonial history. 
They have in mind, and can readily recall with us, the 
condition of the passengers, and the fate of their craft. 
Benjamin Drew, Esq., of Chelsea, formerly of Ply- 
mouth, Mass., who had the good fortune to see the 
wreck upon the beach at Orleans, before its removal, 
presents us with the following remarks, which we here 
insert as a suitable preface to the historical details : — 

As I stood upon the shore, surveying with my friend* 
the remains of the vessel wliich crossed the ocean two 
hundred and forty years ago, imagination brought 
vividly before me the scenes of that early voyage, the 
wrecking of the ship, and the providential escape of 
the passengers and crew. Two hundred and forty 
years 1 yes, nearly that long period had elapsed from 
the time of its protracted and unsuccessful battling 
with the elements, and its subsequent submergence in 
these sands of Nausct ; and to-day the sea, recovering 
the dominion it so long ago yielded to the laud, has 
disclosed to us the hull in all its fair proportions and 
symmetry as it glided into the water from the builder's 
hand, in the reign of James the First. 

The deep human sympathy which attaches to every 
scene where men have fought or suffered, — which 
treasures every relic of the times of the Pilgrims, 

• Dr. B. F. SuAnvRY, of Orleans, who made the measurements for 
the first drawings. 



THE ANCIENT WRECK. 5 

invests this ancient wreck with a deep and abiding 
interest. As we behold it, we seem to see Mr. Fells, 
Mr. Sibsie, and the " many passengers " casting aoxious 
eyes to the west ; for it is stormy weather, and the sea 
is rough, and they have been six weeks afloat, "and 
have no water, nor beere, nor any woode left ; " and 
there is Captain Johnston " sick and lame of ye 
scurvie," so he can " but lye in his cabin dore and give 
direction ; " and we observe that the passengers are 
" mad for land," and so through " fear and unruliness," 
compel the mariners " to stear a course betweene ye 
southwest and norwcst, that they might fall in with 
some land, what soever it was, caring not." And we 
recall, too, the wild scene, when in the night they 
grated on the bar of an unknown shore : the morning 
distress, when their cable parted and they beat over 
the shoal, — their joy at drifting safely on a beach 
with only the soaking of their cargo, — for they now 
discover that a plank has started, and that the oakum 
has left the seams. We listen with them to the strange 
voices of the red men ; nor do we wonder that they 
" stand on their guard : " but hark ! these red men talk 
English, and they tell of " New Plymouth " and " ye 
Governor." So Mr. Fell and Mr. Sibsie sit in the 
cabin here, — this same cabin! — and write to the 
Governor; anon that worthy personage crosses the 
bay, bringing spikes and material for repairs ; he steps 
on board, and gives his advice in the premises. They 
get a supply of corn, and repair their ship, intending 
once more to make sail for Virginia; surely they will 
find it this time ! Before, " they had lost themselves at 
1* 



6 ■ THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

sea ; " but now they will take a new departure, and will 
soon reach the land of their hopes. Not yet, my 
worthy friends, — your tight, " serviceable " craft, now 
afloat, must be driven upon the eastern side of the 
inner harbor, and hopelessly wrecked; you must so- 
journ with the Pilgrims ; and the Sparrow-Hawk, giving 
a name to " Old Ship Ilarbor," must lie for centuries 
under the sand and under the salt-marsh; successive 
generations of Doanes shall swing the scythe, and toss 
the hay, over her forgotten grave; but, in due time, 
when these rocky, wooded islands, shall have sunk 

" Beneath the trampling surge, 
In beds of sparkling sand," 

your ship shall stand revealed again, — timbers and 
planks all sound, the "occomc" vanished from her 
seams, and " ye spikes " and all other iron dissolved 
away ; but wo shall find your old sandals, and the beef 
and mutton bones which you picked when you bade 
your vessel a last good-by ; and we shall feel a kindi'ed 
satisfaction in re-lighting the long-extinguished fires in 
these venerable tobacco-pipes which you forgot to take 
away ; and wo shall send your rudder for a while to 
the Exchange in State Street; and that, and all the 
timbers and planks which you feel so sorry to leave, we 
shall, — Mr. Fells, and Mr. Sibsie, and Capt. Johnston, by 
your leave, — remove to a dry locality, and there, at our 
leisure, explore the privacy of your cabin, and listen to 
your conversation with Samosct and Governor Bradford. 
K the " Advance," which was shut in by Arctic ice, 
and abandoned by Elisha Kent Kane, should some day 



THE ANCIENT WRECK. 7 

be sent adrift in a contest of icebergs, float into the 
Atlantic, and be towed into harbor, we can readily 
imagine the interest with which she would be regarded. 
If the " tossut " remained, who would not be anxious to 
creep through it into the sacred precincts so long the 
home of the great adventurer, — the abode, likewise, 
of Hans, and Ohlsen^ and Morton, 

""Wliose latitudinous eye 
Beheld the billows roll, 

'Neath the long summer's genial sky, 
Around the northern pole ? " 

What crowds would come from all parts to see the 
famous brig ! But here is the hull of a ship of more 
worthy fame than the Advance, — one which crossed the 
Atlantic while Boston was inhabited by Indians ; when 
this continent was, indeed, the new world, — a ship which 
came freighted with passengers, who became, by force 
of circumstances, residents with, and, of course, friends 
of, the Pilgrim Fathers ; and who long retained in their 
Virginia homes a sense of gratitude for favors received 
in the time of their trial. May those days of mutual 
good will return ! 

Charles W. Livermore, Esq., of this city, a member 
of the City Council, and Leander Crosby, Esq., of 
Orleans, a well-known resident of the immediate vicin- 
ity of Old Ship Harbor, with a laudable desire to 
preserve so remarkable a relic, have removed the hull 
to Boston, and had all the parts put together in proper 
order by Messrs. Dolliver and Sleeper, well known and 
experienced ship-builders. Thus will be perpetuated a 



8 THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

ship which sailed the ocean contemporary with the 
Mayflower, — doubtless the only one of that remote age 
now existing on the face of the earth. Truly, a most 
unique curiosity, and well worthy the attention of all men. 
Mr. Livermore requested Messrs. Dolliver and Sleeper 
to communicate in wiuting all matters relating to the 
style of building, the condition of the hull, and any 
other particulars which might be of interest. Those 
gentlemen, having put planks and timbers together in 
their pristine shape, have furnished the following infor- 
mation in accordance with the request of Mr. Liver- 
more: 

Boston, August 17, 18G5. 
Chahles W. Livermore, Esq. 

Dear Sir, — While putting into their original position the 
various portions of the ship so long buried at the Cape, we 
have, as you requested, taken special note of her peculiari- 
ties, &c., and in compliance with your desire send the 
following statement. 

Notwithstanding the many years which this vessel has 
been exposed to the fury of the elements, and to the action of 
the shifting sands in which she has been buried, her outline 
has been remarkably well preserved. Only a practised 
mechanical eye could detect a little inequality in her sides, 
in consequence of her having had a heel to port. We have 
replaced the keel, sternpost, stern-knee, part of the keelson, 
all the floor timbers, most of the first futtocks and the gar- 
board strake on the starboard side; but the stem and fore- 
foot, the top timbers and deck are gone. Enough of her, 
however, remains to enable us to form a fair estimate of her 
general outline when complete. The model made by D. J. 
Lawlor, Esq., embodies our idea of her form and size. 



THE ANCIENT WRECK. 9 

Her length on the keel when complete was twenty-eight 
feet ten inches, and she had great rake of stem with a 
curved forefoot, and the rake of her sternpost is four inches 
to the foot. The great rake of her stem and sternpost makes 
her length on deck between extremes about forty feet, and 
her depth about nine and one-half feet. Her forward lines 
ai'e convex, her after lines sharp and concave, and her mid- 
ship section is almost the arc of a circle. Her breadth of 
beam was about twelve feet and her sheer two and one-half 
feet, with a lively rise at both ends. She had a square stern, 
and no doubt bulwarks as far forward as the waist ; but the 
outline of the rest of her decks was probably protected by 
an open rail. 

As baUast was found in her, she may have been deeper 
than we have described her, or heavily sparred, for it is not 
customary to put baUast in a vessel with a heavy cargo unless 
she is very crank. We mean such a cargo as she probably 
carried from England. Th.-' rig common to vessels of her 
size at the time she was built consisted of a single mast 
with a lateen yard and triangular sail. There is a hole in 
her keelson for the step of the mast. 

No doubt her deck was flush, for trunks and houses are of 
modern invention, and that all her accommodations, and 
even her galley, were below. It is probable that she had a 
small permanent cabin aft, with a companion and binnacle ; 
but we suppose, that, after the cargo was stowed, a small 
platform deck was laid over it for the crew. The hemp 
cables "would be stowed forward below, with such spare 
cordage and sails as might be required for a passage across 
the Atlantic Ocean. The quarters for the crew, and the 
galley, w^ould be abaft these, and the entrance to them 
through the main hatchway. 

We notice by grooves in her floor timbers that she had 
limber-ropes for the purpose of keeping a clean channel for 



10 THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

the water to flow toward the well. She unquestionably 
carried a small boat on deck, and this, with the anchors, we 
suppose, were her only incumbrances. Such we conceive to 
be a fair sketch of her, when she was complete. "We will 
now give a sketch of her as she is. 

Her keel is of English elm, twenty-eight feet six inches 
long, sided eight inches and moulded six ; the floor timbers 
amidships are seven feet one inch long, moulded seven inches 
and sided six, all of oak he^vn square at the corners and 
fastened tlirough the keel with one-inch oak treenails wedged 
in both ends. The first futtocks overlap the floor-timbers 
about two feet, placed alongside of them, forming almost solid 
work on the turn of the bilge, Avith a glut or chock below each 
of them, but tlicy were not fastened together. She has not 
any navel timbers. We suppose that the joints of the second 
futtocks overlapped in the same style as those below them. 
As already stated, her stem and forefoot are gone ; but a part 
of her sternpost, and her stern-knee entire, are left. The stern- 
post is mortised into the keel, and has been bolted through it 
and the knee ; but the iron has been oxidized long since. 
Instead of deadwood aft she has seven forked timbers, the 
longest four feet in the stem, Avith a natural branch on each 
side, and six inches square. Some of these were half fayed to 
the keel, but none of them were fastened. Through these the 
planking was trecnailed. Part of the keelson is now in its 
place ; it is sided ten inches and moulded eight, and was 
fastened to the keel with four iron bolts, driven between the 
floor-timbers (not through them) into the keel. 

Her breadth at present, at four feet two inches depth, 
from the outside of the timbers, is eleven feet six inches, but 
when planked, as already stated, it was no doubt twelve feet. 
She had only three strakes of ceiling, all the rest of the tim- 
bers were bare ; but she had no doubt a stout clamp for her 
deck-beams to rest upon and partner-beams as a support to 



THE ANCIENT WRECK. 11 

her mast. Her planking was two inches thick, of English 
oak, fastened with oak ti-eenails. Most of the planks are 
ten inches wide. The keel has been cut to receive the lower 
edges of the garboards, which had been spiked to it as well 
as treenailed through the timbers. The starboard garboard 
strake is now in its place ; and this is the only planking we 
have put on, for the other strakes are somewhat warped. 
Her outline, however, is perhaps more clearly defined than if 
she had been planked throughout. It seems to us that after 
her floor-timbers were laid and planked over, that the other 
timbers were filled in piece by piece as the planking pro- 
gressed, which is still a favorite mode of building in some 
ports of England, and were not jointed together and raised 
entire before planking. By the appearance of the planks 
they have been scorched on the inside and then suddenly 
saturated in water for the purpose of bending them into 
shape, as a substitute for the modern mode of steaming. 
The planks and treenails which have not been used by us are 
preserved with care, and may be seen by those who wish a 
more minute description of her construction. We suppose 
she had a heavy planksheer or covering-board, and that her 
deck, like her planking, was of English oak. We consider 
her model superior to that of many vessels of the same size 
and even larger, which have been recently built in Nova 
Scotia, and which may be seen in this port every summer. 

Yours truly, 

DOLLIVER & SLEEPER. 

"With a desire to furnish ship-builders, and others 
interested in naval construction, a plan of the ship, D. 
J. Lawlor, Esq., naval architect, has constructed a 
model of the hull, including the upper works, as they 
must have originally existed. Mr. Lawlor's scientific 



12 THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

attainments, of which the Government has availed itself 
in the construction of some of the finest ships in our 
navy, have enabled him to reproduce in a model the 
original lines of the hull, — showing perfectly the posi- 
tion and shape of those portions which were worn away 
before its complete burial in the sand. A draught from 
this model is on the second page of this work. 

A written statement accompanies Mr. Lawlor's model, 
and his views, it will be seen, coincide with those of 
Messrs. Dollivcr and Sleeper. 

The statement of Mr. Lawlor is as follows : 

Chelsea, Ave. 22, 18G5. 
C. W. LivERMOEE, Esa. : 

Dear Sir, — I have examined the Pilgrim ship, and find 
her quite a cm-iosity in naval architecture, so different are 
her model and proportions from those of sea-going vessels of 
the present day. So much of her hull remains entire, that 
I did not find it a difficult task to produce the lines, and 
complete a perfect working model, whicli I send you here- 
with. I might furnish you with an exact list of measure- 
ments, tonnage, &c., and point out the more remarkable 
peculiarities of her construction ; but those who may have 
an opportunity to see the ship will obtain a far better idea of 
the ancient style of building than I could hope to give by 
any verbal description, however minute. She must have 
been an easy sea-boat, and, for that early day, well adapted to 
the carrying of passengers. The pleasure of observing and 
studying so ancient and unique a specimen of ship-building 
has more than repaid the time and attention I have been able 
to bestow upon it. 

Yours, resp'ly, 

D. J. LAWLOR. 



THE ANCIENT WRECK. 13 

An inquiry naturally suggests itself, By what means 
has a wreck, so perfect that a " working model " could 
be constructed from it, been so long preserved ? Ordi- 
narily, wrecks, being exposed to the direct action of 
the winds and waves, soon break up and disappear. 
How does it happen that this wreck formed an excep- 
tion ? That it was preserved by being embedded and 
buried in the sand, has been already intimated. The 
causes which at first operated to bury and conceal, and, 
at length, by their continued action brought the wreck 
to light, will be considered in the following chapter. 



CHAPTER II. 

Geological Changes of the Cape. — How thet affected the 
Wreck. — Effects op Single Storms. 

C^ SHORE composed of the geological formation 
^^^ known as " drift," and directly exposed to the 
action of the sea, is doomed to undergo many and 
rapid changes. By comparing the map, inserted on 
the next page, of Cape Cod as it was at the time of 
its discovery, with the modern map, the great changes 
made on the eastern coast by winds, waves and tides 
will be at once made apparent. 

In regard to the geological changes, we present here 
a short extract from the recently published and highly 
entertaining work of Thoreau : 

"Between October, 1849, and June of the next year, I 
2 




-A 



'r. 



^^ftOf 



ILE -^, 

NAWSET )f*rCARE 



1 
2 



1. Site of former entrance to Potnnumaquut or old ship harbor. The locality of the old ihip li 
represented in l)lncl<. 

2. Present entrance to Chatham harbor. 

3. iBland ledic. 

4. Webb's island. 

i. Nombkochet creek. 



THE ANCIENT WEEOK. 15 

found that the bank [in Truro] had lost about forty feet in 
one place, opposite the lighthouse, and it was cracked more 
than forty feet from the edge at the last date, the shore 
being strewn with the recent rubbish. But I judged that 
generally it is not wearing away here at the rate of more 
than six feet annually. . . . The general statement of the 
inhabitants is, that the Cape is wasting on both sides, but 
extending itself on particular points on the south and west, 
as at Chatham and Monomoy Beaches, and at Billingsgate, 
Long and Race Points. James Freeman stated in his day 
that above three miles had been added to Monomoy Beach 
during the previous fifty years, and it is said to be still 
extending as fast as ever. A •\\Titer in the Massachusetts 
Magazine, in the last century, tells us that ' when the English 
first settled upon the Cape, there was an island off" Chatham, 
at three leagues' distance, called Webbs' Island, containing 
twenty acres covered with red cedar or savin. The- inhab- 
itants of Nantucket used to carry wood from it ;' but he adds 
that in his day a large rock alone marked the spot, and the 
water Avas six fathoms deep there. The entrance to Nauset 
harbor, which was once in Eastham, has now travelled south 
into Orleans. . . . 

*' On the eastern side the sea appears to be everywhere 
encroaching on the land. . . . The bars along the coast shift 
with every storm." 

In the hurricane of April, 1851, in which Minot's 
Ledge lighthouse was swept away, many and great 
changes took place on the eastern side of the Cape. 
A deep and spacious entrance was made into Chatham 
harbor, wliich still continues to be very advantageous to 
the towns of Harwich and Orleans ; but the subsequent 
extension of bars, from an island lying in the direction 
of Chatham, now prevents the business portion of that 



16 THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

place from deriving that benefit from the new opening 
which they at first received. 

Thoreau thus speaks of what fell under his own 
observation, during his last visit to Cape Cod : 

" We ourselves observed the effect of a single storm with a 
high tide in the night, in July, 1855. It moved the sand on 
the beach opposite [Highland] lighthouse to the depth of six 
feet, and three rods in width as far as we could see north 
and south, and carried it bodily off, no one knows exactly 
where, laying bare in one place a rock five feet high, which 
was invisible before, and narrowing the beach to that extent. 
There is usually, as I have said, no bathing on the back side 
of the Cape, on account of the undertow, but when we were 
there last the sea had three months before cast up a bar near 
this lighthouse, two miles long and ten rods wide, leaving a 
narrow cove, then a quarter of a mile long, between it and 
the shore, which afforded excellent bathing. This cove had 
from time to time been closed iip as the bar travelled north- 
ward, in one instance imprisoning four or five hundred 
whiting and cod, which died there, and the water as often 
turned fresh, and finally gave place to sand. This bar, the 
inhabitants assured us, might be wholly removed, and the 
water six feet deep there in two or three days." — p. 142. 

Along the eastern sliores of Eastham and Orleans, 
the strong current of the ebb and of a portion of the flood 
tide sets in a southerly direction, — the undertow break- 
ing up and carrying witli it the sands from the bottom. 
On reaching tlie mouth of the Potanumaquut harbor 
the current, setting in, deposits this sand, thus pro- 
longing the northern point of the entrance-way; but, 
acting more directly on the southern point, and aided 



THE ANCIENT WRECK. 17 

by the retreating sea at ebb tide, the moving mass of 
water must necessarily cut away the southerly bank, — 
so that the northern point continually increasing in 
length and the southern point shortening, or losing 
material, the harbor entrance is continually travelling 
southward. 

When the Sparrow-Hawk grounded for the last time 
within the northern point, under the influence of a west- 
erly gale, the sand must have rapidly accumulated about 
her, in the manner and from the causes we have just 
described. Still there would be, for a considerable time, 
shallow waters about her after the sand had filled in 
the bay nearly to her deck ; and the ends of her timbers 
which were uppermost show at this date the rounded 
form which we should expect to find from a flow of 
waves and the attrition of the sands. But the wind is 
also busy on the bleak shore of the Cape ; the sand is 
blown inward from the top of the sea line of cliffs ; and 
in a few years from her first becoming embedded, she 
must have been completely submerged. Above and 
around her, at length the salt-marsh extended itself; but 
the place was well known, and the name of " Old Ship 
Harbor " then obtained, — nor was this name forgotten, 
although all knowledge of the ship itself had faded from 
the memory of men. 

In further illustration of our subject, we insert an 
extract from the Massachusetts Historical Collections, 
vol. viii. p. 143. Boston: Munroe & Francis, 1802 : — 

** Few towns in the county are fo well provided with harbors 
as Chatham. The firft and moft important, is on the eaftem 
fide of the town, and is called Old harbour. It is formed by a 
2* 



18 THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

narrow beach, which completely guards it againft the ocean. 
The haven on the weftern fide of this beach is extcnfive ; but 
the harbour of Chatham is fuppofed to reach not farther north 
than Strong ifland, a diftance of about four miles. Above that, 
the water, which is within the limits of Harwich and Orleans, is 
known by other names. The breadth of the harbour, is about 
three-quarters of a mile. Its entrance, a quarter of a mile wide, 
is formed by a point of the beach and James' head, eafl of it on 
the main land. On the infide of the beach are flats and fait 
marfh. There is alfo a piece of marfh on the fouthern part of 
Strong ifland. Thefe marflies are covered during every tide. 

** There are no rocks either within or near the harbour ; but its 
mouth is obftructed by bars, which extend eaft and foutheaft 
of the point of the beach three quarters of a mile. On each 
fide of this mouth is a breaker, — one called the North, and the 
other the South breaker. There are alfo feveral bars in the 
harbour within the outer bars. Thefe bars are continually shift- 
ing, — the caufes of which are ftorms and a ftrong current 
which fets in and out of the harbour. At low water, there are 
feven feet on the outer bars, common tides rifing about fix feet. 
North of them, the fhore is bolder. There is good holding 
ground in the harbour. At the entrance, the bottom is fandy. 
Farther in there is a muddy bottom. The depth at low water 
is about twenty feet. 

** Not only do the bars alter, but the mouth of the harbour 
alfo is perpetually varying. At prefent it is gradually moving 
fouthward by the addition of fand to the point of the beach. 
The beach has thus been extended above a mile within the 
courfe of the part forty years. 

"In the year 1626, there was an entrance into Monamoyick 
harbour, oppofite Potanumaquut, fix miles north of the prefent 
mouth. The {hip mentioned by Prince* came in here, and 

• Annals, p. 163. See also Morton's Memorial, p. 89, A. D., 1627. 



THE ANCIENT WRECK. 19 

was ftranded on the beach, where its ruins were to be feen about 
twenty years ago. This part of the beach ftill bears the name 
of the Old Ship. The entrance has been clofed for many years. 
Several pafTages into the harbour have been opened and fhut since 
that time. At a late period, there were two openings into the 
haven, — one of which, that which now exifts, was ftyled the 
Old harbour, and the other, the New harbour.* Though the 
mouth of the New harbour is entirely choked up with fand, yet 
the name. Old harbour, is still retained. 

"It is not eafy to give directions for failing into fo inconftant 
a port. None but a pilot who is well acquainted with its yearly 
variations can guide in a veffel with fafety. On a fignal being 
made, however, boats are ready to put off from the Ihore, to 
yield affiftance. In a north-eaft ftorm, i n which a pilot cannot 
leave the land, a veflel, by getting to the fouth of the South 
breaker, may, at prefent, ride with fafety. But how long this 
will be true, it is impoffible to fay." 

The following account of a tremendous storm and its 
effects, is from the able work of the Rev. Frederick 
Freeman, — " History of Cape Cod j Annals of Barn- 
stable County and of its several towns " : — 

" Among the remarkable events of this early period is 
recorded that of a violent storm which did great damage, 
the tide rising twenty feet perpendicular." Hubbard and 
Morton say : ' The Narragansets were obliged to betake 
themselves to the tops of trees, and yet many of them were 
drowned. Many hundred thousand of trees were blown 
down, turning up the stronger by the roots, and breaking 
the high pines and such like in the midst. Tall young oaks 
and walnut trees of good bigness were wound as a withe 
by it.' " 

• See Des Barres' accurate chart of the coast. 



20 THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

" Governor Bradford's account of the storm is as follows : ' In 
1635, August 15, was such a mighty storm of wind and rain 
as none living in these parts, either English or Indians, ever 
saw. It began in the morning a little before day, and came 
with great violence, causing the sea to swell above twenty 
feet right up, and made many inhabitants climb into the 

trees It began southeast, and parted toward the 

south and east, and veered sundry ways. The wrecks of it 
will remain a hundred years. The moon suffered a great 
eclipse the second night after it. 

"It was in this storm that Mr. Thachcr was cast ashore 
at Cape Ann, on what Avas afterward known as Thachcr's 
Island. Twenty-one persons were drowned. None were 
saved but Mr. Anthony Thacher and wife." 



CHAPTER III. 

Bradford's Account of the Wreck. — IIis Visit to the Scene 
OF THE Disaster. — The Passengers and Crew received at 
Plymouth. — Tradition of the Name " Sparrow-Hawk." — 
Extracts from the Work of Amos Otis, Esq. — PvECovert and 
Saving of the Wreck. 

'E now proceed to give the history of the 
ancient ship according to the chronological 
order of events- The reader's attention is invited to 
the following interesting and important extract from 
"Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantations, A. D. 
1626-7,"MS. p. 146: — 

"Ther is one thing that fell out in y® begining of y® winter 
before, which I have rcfFerred to this place, that I may handle 
y* whole matter togeither. Ther was a fhip, with many paflen- 



THE ANCIENT WRECK. 21 

gers in her and liindrie goods, bound for Virginia. They had 
loft them felves at fea, either by y* infufficiencie of y^ maifter, or 
his ilnes ; for he was fick & lame of y* scurvie, fo that he 
could but lye in y® cabin dore & give direftion ; and it fhould 
feeme was badly aflilled either w*^ mate or mariners; or elfe y* 
fear and unrulines of y* paffengers were fuch, as they made them 
ftear a courfe betweene y® fouthweft & y® norweft, that they 
might fall with fome land, what foever it was they cared not. 
For they had been 6. weeks at fea, and had no water, nor beere, 
nor any woode left, but had burnt up all their emptie cafke j only 
one of y' company had a hogfhead of wine or 2. which was 
allfo allmoft fpente, fo as they feared they fhould be ftarved at 
fea, or confumed with difeafes, which made them rune this def- 
perate courfe. But it plafed God that though they came fo neare 
y® shoulds of Cap-Codd [147] or elfe ran ftumbling over them 
in y® night, they knew not how, they came right before a fmall 
blind harbore that lyes aboute y® midle of Manamoyake Bay to 
y® Southward of Cap-Codd, with a fmall gale of wind; and 
about highwater toucht upon a barr of fand that lyes before it, 
but had no hurte, y^ fea being fmoth; fo they laid out an 
anchore. But towards the eveing, the winde fprunge up at fea, 
and was fo rough, as broake their cable, & beat them over the 
barr into y® harbor, wher they faved their lives & goods, 
though much were hurte with fait water ; for w"^ beating they 
had fprung y® but end of a planke or tdo, & beat out their 
occome; but they were foone over, and ran on a drie flate 
within the harbor, clofe by a beach ; fo at low water they gatt 
out their goods on drie fhore, and dried thofe that were wette, 
and faved molt of their things without any great lofs ; neither 
was y® ship much hurt, but Ihee might be mended, and made 
fervifable againe. But though they were not a litle glad that 
they had thus faved their lives, yet when they had a litle 
refrefhed them felves, and begane to thinke on their condition, not 
knowing wher they were, nor what they fliould doe, they begane 



22 THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

to be ftrucken with fadnes. Bur fhortly after they faw fome 
Indians come to them in canows, which made them ftand upon 
their gard. But when they heard fome of y* Indeans fpeake 
Englifh unto them, they were not a litle revived, efpecially when 
they heard them demand if they were the Gove'' of Plimoths 
men, or freindsj and y* they would bring them to y' Englifh 
houfes, or carry their letters. 

They feafted thefe Indeans, and gave them many giftes ; 
and fente 2. men and a letter with them to y' Gove', 
and did intreat him to fend a boat unto them, with fome 
pitch, & occume, and fpiks, w*** divers other neceflaries for 
y* mending of ther fhip (which was recoverable). Allfo 
they befought him to help them with fome come and fun- 
dric other things they wanted, to enable them to make their 
viage to Virginia ; and they fhould be much bound to him, and 
would make fatisfaction for any thing they had, in any comodi- 
ties they had abord. After y® Gov'' was well informed by y* 
meffengers of their condition, he caufed a boate to be made 
ready, and fuch things to be provided as they write for ; and 
becaufe others were abroad upon trading, and fuch other affairs, 
as had been fitte to fend unto them, he went him felfe, & allfb 
carried fome trading comodities, to buy them come of y® Indeans. 
"It was no feafon of y*^ year to goe withoute y* Cape, but 
underflanding wher y* fhip lay, he went into y" bottom of y* 
bay, on y* infide, and put into a crick called Naumfkachett,* 
wher it is not much above 2. mile over [148] land to y° bay 
wher they were, wher he had y" Indeans ready to cary over any 
thing to them. Of his arrivall they were very glad, and received 
the things to mend ther fhip, & other necefTaries. Allfo he 

* In the northwest quarter of the township, on Barnstable Bay, is 
Namskekct Creek, which is three quarters of a mile long, and which, 
as far as it rims, is tlic dividing line between Orleans and Harmch 
[now Brewster.J" Description of Orleans, m 1 Mass. Hist. Coll., 
\m.., 188. — Ed. 



THE ANCIEXT ^7RECIt. 23 

bought them as much corne as they would have ; and whcras 
feme of their fea-men were rune away among y® Indeans, he 
procured their returne to y® fliip, and fo left them well furnifhed 
and contented, being very thankfull for y® curtefies they receaved. 
But after the Gove'^ thus left them, he went into fome other 
harbors ther aboute, and loaded his boate with corne, which he 
traded, and fo went home. But he had not been at home many 
days, but he had notice from them, that by the violence of 
a great ftorme, and y® bad morring of their fhip (after fhe 
was mended) fhe was put a fhore, and fo beatten and fhaken 
as file was now wholy unfitte to goe to fea.* And fo their requeft 
was that they might have leave to repaire to them, and foujourne 
with them, till they could have means to convey them felves to 
Virginia ; and that they might have means to trafport their 
goods, and they would pay for y® fame, or any thing els wher 
with y* plantation fhould releeve them. Confidering their dif- 
tres, their requefts were granted, and all helpfullnes done unto 
them ; their goods transported, and them felves & goods fhel- 
tered in their houfes as well as they could. 

" The cheefe amongft thefe people was one M^ Fells and M'. 
Sibfie which had many fervants belonging unto them, many of 
them being Irifh. Some others ther were y' had a fervante or 
2. a peece j but y® moll were fervants, and fuch as were ingaged 
to the former perfons, who allfo had y® moft goods. AfFter they 
were hither come, and fome thing fetled, the maifters defired fome 
ground to imploye ther fervants upon ; feing it was like to be 
y" latter end of y® year before they could have paflage for Vir- 
ginia, and they had now y° winter before them ; they might clear 
fome ground and plant a crope, (feeing they had tools & neceffa- 
ries for y® fame) to help to bear their charge, and keep their 

* The beach ■where this ship was stranded still bears the name of 
Old Ship, and it is said that some portions of the wreck were to be 
seen about seventy years ago. See 1 Mass. Hist. Coll., viii., 144. — 
Ed. 



24 THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

fervants in imployment ; and if they had opper^unitie to departe 
before the fame was ripe, they would fell it on y* ground. So 
they had ground appointed them in convenient places, and Fells 
& fome other of them raifed a great deall of come, which they 
fould at their departure." 

The historian here details some domestic infelicities 
of Mr. Fells in consequence of which the Plymouth Pil- 
grims 

" pact him away & thofe that belonged unto him by the firft 
oppertunitie, and difmifte all the refl: as foone as could, being 
many untoward people amongft them ; though ther were allfo fome 
that caried them felves very orderly all y* time they flayed. 
And the plantation [149] had fome benefite by them, in felling 
them come & other provifions of food for cloathing ; for they had 
of diverfe kinds, as cloath, perpetuanes, & other ftufFs, befids hofe, 
& fhoes, and fuch like comodities as y* planters ftood in need of. 
So they both did good, and received good one from another; 
and a cuple of barks caried them away at y® later end of fomer. 
And fundrie of them have acknowledged their thankfullnes fince 
from Virginia." 

To the account of the loss of the ship, Freeman's 
"History of Cape Cod; Annals," &c., appends the 
following note : 

" The beach where this ship was wrecked was thencefor- 
ward called " The Old Ship." The remains of the wreck 
were visible many years." 

The January number of the N. E. Historical and Gen- 
ealogical Register for 1864 (p. 37) contains an able 
article by Amos Otls, Esq., in which allusion is made to^ 
the tradition that the name of the old ship was "Spar- 
row-Hawk." Mr. Otis speaks of this tradition as 



THE ANCIENT WRECK. 25 

uncertain. "We will give the tradition as it is, and 
leave it to make its own impression on our readers. 
A family by the name of Sparrow has long resided in 
the close vicinity of the Old Ship Harbor. The first 
settler of the name, Mr. Jonathan Sparrow, bought the 
land, where the family now live, in 1675. The present 
proprietor, Mr. James L. Sparrow, states that it had 
been " handed down " from father to son that there was 
an old ship buried in the sand in Potanumaquut Har- 
bor in the early days of the colony, and that its name 
was " Sparahawk," or " Sparrow-Hawk," 

Mr. Otis remarks, that " the evidence which seems to 
prove beyond a reasonable doubt that tliose remains 
belong to the ship which Gov. Bradford informs us was 
lost in Potanumaquut harbor in the winter of 162G-7 
.... is principally based on the geological changes 
that have occurred on the coast, since its discovery. 
Archer's account of Gosnold's voyage around the 
Cape, in 1602, and of the appearance of the coast, 
is so unlike anything seen by the modern mariner, that 
his relation has been considered a myth or traveller's 
tale, unreliable and unworthy of credence. Geological 
inquiries may seem out of place in a historical and 
genealogical journal ; but if they do nothing more, they 
will verify the accuracy of Archer's descriptions, and 
thus aid us in our investigations of the truths of 
history. 

"The accounts of the wrecked ship in Morton and 

Prince, are copied from Bradford. Morton is not 

careful in his dates, but he informs us that the 

master was a Scotchman, named Johnston, a fact not 

3 



26 THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

stated by Bradford. Mr. Prince with his accustomed 
accuracy, states that a ship was lost in the beginning of 
the winter [December], 1626. Gov. Bradford's de- 
scription of the place where the ship was lost, would 
be perfectly clear and distinct if the configuration of 
the coast was the same now as it was when he wrote. 
Namaskachet Creek remains, but Isle Nauset, Points 
Care and Gilbert, have been swept away by the waves 
and currents of the ocean. Where Monamoick Bay 
was, there is a straight line of sea-coast; where an 
open sea then was, now long beaches meet the eye; 
and where were navigable waters, now we see sandy 
wastes and salt meadows. 

" Such remarkable changes having been made in the 
configuration of this coast since its discovery by Gos- 
nold, and its examination by Smith, in 1614, is it 
surprising that the knowledge of the location of " Old 
Ship Harbor " should have been lost, or that the readers 
of Bradford should have been unable to determine 
where Monamoick Bay was ? 

" Prof. Agassiz, of Cambridge, in company with the 
writer and others, has recently made a careful geologi- 
cal examination of tlie eastern coast of the towns of 

Eastham, Orleans, and Chatliam The result 

was a verification of the accuracy of Archer's descrip- 
tion of the coast. 

" This examination enables me to draw an outline 
map of the coast as it was in 1602, and ia 1626. I 
have also a map of the harbors, beaches, and salt 
meadows as they were, and as they now are." [Y. 
map, p. 14.] 



THE ANCIENT WRECK. 27 

la Gov. Bradford's account, which we have already 
quoted, he says that " he landed on Naumskachett creek" 
on the inside of the bay. From the fact that the 
distance from this creek, which now forms a part of the 
boundary line between Brewster and Orleans, to the 
navigable waters of Potauumaquut is about two miles, — 
as stated by Bradford, — while to Nauset harbor, the 
distance is greater, Mr. Otis considers it proved " beyond 
controversy that Potanumaquut was the harbor into 
which the ship ' stumbled.' " 

We quote from Mr. Otis, the facts in relation to the 
discovery : 

" On the 6th of May, 1863, Messrs. Solomon Linnell, 
2d, and Alfred Rogers, of Orleans, were on Nauset 
Beach, and discovered portions of a wreck. Mr. 
Linnell was at the same place on the 4th, when no part 
of the wreck was visible. This proves that it was 
uncovered between the 4th and 6th of May, 1863. 
When first discovered, it was partially covered with the 
marsh mud in which the wreck had been embedded. 
On removing some of the mud, they found a quantity of 
charcoal, and the appearance of the timbers and planks 
indicated that the vessel of which these were the 
remains had been burnt.'^ On Saturday, May 9, 
Leander Crosby, Esq., visited the wreck, and collected 
a quantity of beef and mutton bones ; several soles of 

*A more close examination of the vessel showed this to be incorrect. 
The charred surface of plank was found in close contact with timbers 
which had not been burned at all. The inference is, that the plank 
was partially charred, while being heated for the purpose of bending 
it, — the modem process of steaming, not having yet come into vogue. 



28 THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

shoes, probably made for sandals ; a smoking pipe of 
the kind used by smokers of opium; and a metallic 
box." 

Dr. Benj. F. Seabury and John Doanc, Jr., afterwards 
visited the wreck, and found the rudder lying a few feet 
distant ; this they removed, and it is now deposited in 
the hall of the Pilp;rim society, at Plymouth. Messrs. 
Seabury and Doane took measurements of the ship, 
and public attention was now drawn to a consideration 
of the subject. 

'' The peculiar model of the wreck excited the curi- 
osity of the people, and although four miles from the 
village, it was visited by hundreds, and each one took a 
fragment as a memento of his visit At the time the 
writer was there the current had swept out a basin in 
the sand around the wreck, and it being low tide, every 
part excepting the keel could be examined. One strik- 
ing part was immediately noticed by everyone, — the 
long, tail-like projection at the stern. The oldest sailor 
never saw a vessel built on that model, she must have 
had, to use a nautical expression, " a clean run," and 

have been a good sea-boat She had been most 

carefully built. The frames were placed side by side. 
.... There were twenty-three regular frames remain- 
ing, or forty-six timbers, not counting the six at the 
stern. At the bow several frames were missing. The 
planks were fastened with spikes and treenails, in the 
same manner as at the present time. Some of the tree- 
nails had been wedged after they were first driven, show, 
ing that some repairs had been made. 

" The timbers and planks of the old ship are very 



THE ANCIENT WRECK. 29 

sound, there is no appearance of rot. There are no 
barnacles upon them, they are not eaten by worms, and 
there is no indication that they have been for any con- 
siderable length of time exposed to the action of the 
elements. The spikes, bolts and other fastenings of 
iron have entirely disappeared, rust had grad- 
ually consumed them, and discolored sand indicated the 
places where the iron once was. The wreck was 
embedded in marsh mud. and covered deeply in sand. 
Under such circumstances air was almost wholly ex- 
cluded, and oxidation must have been slow. 

" Though called a ship, she had only one mast, and 
that as shown by the mortise in the keelson, was nearly 
midship." 

" In August last, the wreck was again covered with 
sand, and is now buried several feet below the surface, 
where it may remain undiscovered for ages. Centuries 
hence some plodding antiquarian may labor to prove it 
to be the same I have described in this article.* 

*This was not to be, however. For, a few months after, the 
capricious sea exhumed her once more, when the wreck was removed 
beyond and above high-water mark. 

In the winter of 18G0-61, in a storm, a new channel, of sufficient 
depth for fishing-boats to pass out and in, opened in the beach, a 
short distance south of where the wreck lay. Through this channel 
the tide ebbed and flowed ; and such was its effect on the currents 
that a cove or indentation was made in the beach nearly opposite the 
grave of the Sparrow-Hawk. This indentation became deeper and 
deeper, until at length the hull revisited the glimpses of the day. At 
the time of this writing, the channel and the cove have disappeared ; 
in their place is a straight line of sea-beach, and there are ten feet of 
sand where the old vessel lay. Uut for this accidental opening and 
consequent abrasion of the beach, the vessel might, indeed, have 
remained " luidiscovcred for ages." 
3^' 



so THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

" One point remains to be considered. Is the wreck 
recently discovered a part of Capt. Johnston's ship, lost 
in 1626? The reader will look at his map. 'He 
Nawset ' was of the drift formation, hilly, and in some 
parts rocky. No part of it now remains. About fifty 
years ago, a small portion of it, called Slut's Bush, had 
not washed away. The sand on its shores, and most of 
which has been washed by the currents from the north, 
has blown inward by the winds, covering the meadows 
within, and in some places filling the navigable channels 
and harbors on the west. In some places the waves of 
the ocean have swept across the beach, and transported 
immense quantities of sand to the meadows in a single 
tide." 

" The wreck of the Old Ship is on the second lot 
of the Potanumaquut meadows.* This was always 
known as the Old Ship lot, but why it was so called no 
one could explain. Now the reason is apparent. The 
position of the wreck has not probably changed since it 
sunk in the place where it now lies. At low tide there 
are about two feet of water around it, showing that at 
high water there was a sufficient depth to have floated 
a vessel of seventy tons burthen. Every portion of the 
wreck is below the surface of the meadows. These 

•The first rocoi'dcd division of thc«o meadows was in 1750. — The 
inference is that they ■were in process of formation up to that time, 
but had not become valuable for mowing until that date. 

The salt-meadows have a certain frontage along the beach, the 
boundaries being usually a stake and stones. These are occasionally 
found outside the beach, which has travelled inland. Leander 
Crosby, Esq., found one of these, a cedar stake, where the tide 
ebbed and flowed. It was marked with the initials, •' R. S." 
Doubtless, Ilichard Sparrow. 



THE ANCIENT WRECK. 31 

two facts prove that this vessel was not cast away upon 
a beach nor on the meadows. 

" At the present time a wreck sunk in such a situa- 
tion would be covered with sand and mud in the course 
of a month. Similar causes existed then, and it is safe 
to assume that Capt. Johnston's vessel was covered up 
very soon after she was lost. 

" Salt meadows do not form on a shore where a surf 
beats, or where a strong current exists. While the 
ancient entrance to the harbor was open, there was such 
a current on the west or inside of Isle Nauset, which 
prevented the formation of salt meadow near the wreck. 
After the closing of the old entrance, the current turned 
west of Pochett and Sampson's islands, and found an 
outlet through Pleasant bay, to Chatham harbor, thus 
leaving a body of still water favorable to the rapid 
formation of salt meadows. This view is confirmed by 
the Eastham records. That town was settled in 1646, 
and in the early division of meadows, the Potanuma- 
quut are not named. As salt meadows were considered 
more valuable then, than at the present time, it is 
surprising that they are not named till 1750, if they had 
then existed. 

Records cannot be quoted to prove the antiquity of 
this wreck, neither can it be proved by living witnesses ; 
we necessarily have to rely on other testimony. Tliat 
the rust had entirely consumed all tlie iron used in its 
construction is evidence of its antiquity. The position 
of the wreck in reference to navigable waters, to the 
salt meadows, and to the beaches is relialjle testimony. 

" Now it is i)erfectly certain that this wreck must have 



32 THE AXCIENT WKECK. 

been in its present position since the year 1750, or 113 
years, for since that date there have been no navij^able 
waters within a quarter of a mile of the spot where it 
lies. It is also certain that it must have been in its 
present position during all that period, prior to 1750, 
while the meadows were forming around it, and on the 
west. If it is admitted that those meadows are of recent 
formation, one hundred years would be a low estimate, 
making the whole time 213 years. 

" If it be said that the Potanumaquut meadows 
belong to the older and not to the recent formation, it 
proves too much ; it proves that the wreck has been in 
its present position many centuries — that it is the 
remains of an old ship in which the Northmen, or other 
ancient navigators sailed. 

'• The position of this wreck in reference to the salt 
meadows and to the beach, is the best possible evidence 
of its antiquity. If driven there it must have been by 
a westerly wind, which would cause a low tide. Ad- 
mitting that the vessel of which this wreck is the 
remains, was, by some unknown cause, forced on the 
meadows, how was the wreck buried below the line 
of the surface ? 

" To suppose that she was so buried on hard mead- 
ows by natural causes is an impossibility. That the 
wreck was there first, and tlie meadows formed over it, 
seems a self-evident truth, and judging from the rate 
at which similar meadows have formed, two hundred 
and thirty-seven years is not an unreasonable length 
of time to assign for the formation of the Potanuma- 
quut meadows, and consequently the length of time 



THE ANCIENT WRECK. 33 

that the wi-eck of the Old Ship, at Orleans, has 
remained in its present position. 

" Those who are not aware of the remarkable geo- 
logical changes that have occurred on the eastern coast 
of Cape Cod since its discovery, doubt the truthfulness 
of Archer, who was the historian of Gosnold's vo3'ages. 
I have in this article assumed that he was a careful and 
an accurate observer, and faithfully recorded what he 
saw. Great geological changes make their own rec- 
ords; they leave in the strata and in the various 
deposits, the footprints which the scientific student of 
nature can trace and follow. 

" Cape Cod was discovered by Bartholomew Gos- 
nold. May 15th, 1602, 0. S. He anchored at first near 
the end of the Cape, which he called Shoal Hope, but 
afterwards changed to the name it has since retained. 
Afterwards he anchored in the harbor, in latitude 42°. 
On the IGth he sailed round the Cape. After pro- 
ceeding twelve leagues in this circuitous course, he 
descried a point of land ' a good distance oif ' with 
shoals near it. He 'kept his luff' to double it, and 
after passing it ' bore up again with the land ' and at 
night anchored, where he remained that night and the 
following day, May 17. 

" He saw many shoals in that vicinity, and ' another 
point tliat lay in his course.' On the 18th he sent a 
boat to sound around the point, and on the 19th passed 
around it in four or five fathoms and anchored a league 
or somewhat more beyond it, in latitude 41° 40^ 

"Nothing is named in this account that the most 
careless observer would not have seen and noted. 



M THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

When he discovered the first point he was off Eastham, 
a little north of the beach where the * Three Lights ' 
are now located. He saw the danger, and like a 
prudent mariner kept his luff to avoid it. The shoal 
he called Tucker's Terror, the headland, Point Care. 
After passing Point Care he bore up again to the main- 
land. This description of the coast is simple and 
truthful. To determine the exact position of Point 
Care, is attended with some difficulty. That it was the 
north end headland of the island named by Capt John 
Smith 'He Nawset,' there appears to be no reason to 
doubt. The only difficulty is in determining precisely 
where the north end of that island was in 1602. The 
northern end of it, which persons living remember, was 
opposite the present entrance to Nausct Harbor. In 
1G02 it probably extended half a mile further north, 
that is, as far north as the low beach extended, that 
persons now living remember. John Doanc, Esq., 
now seventy years of age, was born in the imme- 
diate vicinity of Point Care, his father and grand- 
father, in fact all his ancestors from the first settlement, 
owned the land and meadows between He Nawset and 
the main. He says tliat within his recollection Point 
Care has worn away about half a mile. When his grand- 
father was a boy. Point Care extended much further in- 
to the ocean than it did when he was young. 

These are not vague and uncertain recollections. Mr. 
Doane points to monuments, and the exact distance that 
the ocean encroached on the land within his recollection 
can be ascertained. He states that fifty years ago a 
beach extended from the present entrance of Nauset 



THE ANCIENT WRECK. 35 

harbor half a mile north, where the entrance then was. 
Within this beach his father owned ten acres of salt 
meadows, on which he for several years assisted him in 
cutting and raking the hay. Now where that beach was 
there are three or four fathoms of water, and where the 
meadows were is a sand bar on which the waves con- 
tinually break, and make Nauset harbor difficult of 
access. Within his memory the north beach, connected 
with Eastham shore, has extended south one mile, and 
the whole beach has moved inward about its width, say 
one fourth of a mile. Formerly there were navigable 
waters between Nauset and Potanumaquut harbors. 
It is about a century since vessels have passed through, 
and about fifty years since the passage was entirely 
closed. This is caused by the moving of Nauset beach 
inward. Dunes always travel inward, never outward, 
let the direction be what it may. 

" Mr. Doane says that his grandfather informed him, 
that when he was young, a rocky, swampy piece of land, 
known as Slut's Bush, was about in the middle of Isle 
Nauset j that many berries grew there, and that he had 
repeatedly been there to pick them. When the present 
John Doane was a lad, only the western edge of this 
swamp remained. The roots of the trees and bushes 
that grew there ran under and between the rocks and 
stones, and when the waves undermined the rocks, tlie 
whole, rocks, stumps and roots, settled together. Skit's 
Bush is now some distance from the shore, in deep 
water j vessels pass over it, and on a calm day the 
stumps and roots may be seen at the bottom. The 
fisherman sometimes gets his line entangled with them 



86 THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

and pulls them up. During violent gales of wind they 
arc sometimes loosened and driven to the shore. 

" IJoyond Slut's Bush, about three miles from the 
shore, there is a similar ledge called Beriah's Ledge, 
probably formed in precisely the same manner as Slut's 
Bush ledge is known to have been formed. Six nauti- 
cal miles south of Point Care, Gosnold discovered 
another headland, which he named Point Gilbert. 
Archer furnishes us with all the particulars respecting 
the soundings, the straits, his passing round it, and 
anchoring a league or more beyond, in latitude 41° 40'. 
We have historical and circumstantial evidence that 
Point Gilbert existed in 1602; it united with the main 
land at James Head, near Chatham lights. From James 
Head on its south shore, it extended nine miles on an 
east-by-south course, to its eastern terminus, afterwards 
known as Webb's Island, situate where Crabb's Ledge 
now is. Cape Care was worn away by the gradual 
abrasion of the waves; over Point Gilbert the sea, 
during a violent gale, swept, carrying away long sec- 
tions in a single day. The inner ledge on the line of 
Point Gilbert is known as Island Ledge, and the name 
indicates that the sea broke over the point at two 
places about the same time. Rev. Dr. Morse states 
tliat Webb's island at one time contained fifteen acres 
of rocky land covered with wood from which the early 
inhabitants of Nantucket procured fuel.* The process 
which has been described as having occurred at Slut's 
Bush ledge also occurred at Crabb and Island ledges ; 
the stumps and roots of the trees were carried down by 

* See Morse's Universal Geography, I., 357, cd. 1793. 



THE ANCIENT WRECK. 37 

the suporincumbent rocks. Mr. Joshua Y. Bearse, who 
resided many years at Monainoit point, and has all his 
life been familiar with the shoals and ledges near Chat- 
ham, informs me that it is very difficult to obtain an 
anchor lost near either of these ledges; the sweeps 
used catch against the rocks and stumps at the bottom 
where the water is four fathoms deep. He also states 
that after the violent gale in 1851, during which the 
sea broke over Nauset Beach where the ancient entrance 
to Potanumaquut harbor was, and where the entrance 
to Chatham harbor was in 1775, with a force which 
seems almost incredible, sweeping away banks of earth 
twenty feet high, cutting channels therein five fathoms 
deep, moving the sea around to its very bottom, and 
tearing up the old stumps which had been there more 
than a centui-y, — Mr. Bearse states that more than one 
hundred of these drifted during that gale to the shore 
at "Monamoit beach, and that he picked them up for 
fuel. A. part of these were stumps that bore the marks 
of the axe, but tlie greater part were broken or rotted off. 
" These old stumps did not grow under the water ; 
they did not float to the positions from which they were 
dragged up ; they grew in a compact rocky soil overly- 
ing a loose sand. The waves and the currents removed 
the loose substratum, and the rocks and the stumps 
went down together into the deep water where they are 
now found. From the place where Gosnold anchored, 
a league or more from Point Gilbert, there was an open 
sea to the southwest. Monamoit beach, which projects 
out eight miles south from Morris island, did not then 
exist; there was nothing there to impede navigation." 
4 



38 THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

[" Prof. Agassiz who is the author of the geological 
theory which the accompanying map delineates, furnishes 
us with the following note, dated Cambridge, December 
17, 18G3. 

" Surprising and perhaps incredible as the statements 
of Mr. Amos Otis may appear, they are nevertheless the 
direct and natural inference of observations which may 
easily be made along the eastern coast of Cape Cod. 
Having of late felt a special interest in the geological 
structure of that remarkable region, I have repeatedly 
visited it during the last summer, and in company with 
Mr. Otis examined on one occasion with the most minute 
care, the evidence of the former existence of Isle Nauset 
and Point Gilbert. I found it as satisfactory as any 
geological evidence can be. Besides its scientific 
interest, this result has some historical importance. 
At all events it fully vindicates Archer's account of the 
aspect of Cape Cod, at the time of its discovery in 1602, 
and shows him to have been a truthful and accurate 
observer. — Editor."] 

It only remains to state tlie facts in regard to tlie 
final recovery and saving of the wreck. Messrs. 
Leander Crosby and John Doane, Jr., assisted by 
Solomon Linnell, 2d, Alfred Rogers, and others, conveyed 
the planks and timbers, at various times, to the upland. 
One mass, including the keel and thirteen timbers, was 
thrown out by the sea, and was at once secured. The 
whole was collected together, on the premises of Mr. 
Crosby, whence it was conveyed to Boston, and the 
pieces restored to their original position, as already 
related, by Messrs. Dolliver and Sleeper. 



APPENDIX 



The publishers of this pamphlet have, in a few 
instances in the course of the work, made use of the 
traditional name, "Sparrow-Hawk." Perhaps nice 
historical accuracy would object to this; but our 
readers, we doubt not, will excuse us, on the ground 
that in speaking of a person or a ship it is very con- 
venient to make use of some proper name : and we have, 
therefore, used the appellation which finds its basis in a 
tradition of the vicinity where the wreck was found. 
(F. p. 25.) 

The house of Miles Standish at Captain's Hill, in 
Duxbury, was destroyed by fire about the year 1665. 
In 1856, James Hall, Esq., the proprietor of the Miles 
Standish estate, caused the rubbish to be removed from 
the cellar ; here he found several pipes, once no doubt 
the property of the redoubtable Captain. Two of 
these have been kindly loaned by Mr. Hall to the 
proprietors of the ancient wi'eck; and on comparing 
them with the pipes found in the wreck, they are seen 
to be almost exactly alike, even to a series of small 
indentations surrounding the top of the bowl. This 
curious similarity serves to indicate the age of the ship, 
and were there no other clew, would assure us that her 
date is to be assigiied to the time of the Pilgrims. 



40 THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

To remove from the public mind any distrust as to 
the genuineness of the relic whose history is related in 
the preceding pages, we insert below testimony from 
various sources, including letters from gentlemen whose 
names are widely known and honored. 

Boston, Oct. 12, 1865. 
Chas. W. LiVERMOKE and Leandek Crosby, Esqs. 

Gentlemen, — It is not surprising that a portion of the 
public look with suspicion upon tlie statement that you have 
in your possession the wreck of a vessel which Avas stranded 
on Cape Cod some two hundred and forty years ago. To 
assist you in removing such suspicion, which we regard as 
unfounded, permit us to say, that after a careful examination 
of the M'reck itself; after investigating the circumstances 
of its position and condition whtsn found, and the traditions 
concerning it ; after collating with these the several accounts 
contained in the Histories of Governor Bradford, Secretary 
Morton, and Prince, the annalist, — we have been led irre- 
sistibly to the conclusion that the " Old Ship " has the 
antiquity wliich you claim for it, and are of opinion that it is 
the identical wreck visited by Governor Bradford in 1C26, — 
as narrated by him in his history of Plymouth Plantation, 
page 217. The wreck we regard as a remarkable curiosity, 
and well worthy a visit by all who are in any degree interested 
in our early colonial history. 

NATH. B. SHURTLEFF. 

CHARLES DEANE. 

RICHARD FROTHINGHAM. 

HENRY M. DEXTER. 

ROBT. C. WINTHROP. 

JOHN G. PALFREY. 

RICHARD H. DANA, JR. 

WINSLOW LEWIS. 



-• THE ANCIENT WRECK. 41 

[For the information of persons resident in other States, who may 
not be informed in regard to these gentlemen, we would say, that Dr. 
Nathaniel B. Shurtleff is thoroughly versed in all matters of colonial 
history, is a member of the Board of Overseers of Harvard College, 
and also a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society ; Charles 
Deane, Esq., is a prominent member of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society, and editor of Bradford's "History of Plymouth Plantation," 
which contains the original account of the wreck of the old ship ; the 
Hon. Richard Frothingham is the author of the " Siege of Boston," 
and of the " Life of General Joseph Warren," now in press ; the Rev. 
Henry M. Dexter is Corresponding Secretary of the N. E. Historic- 
Genealogical Society — is editor of a new edition of Mourt's Relation, 
and his recent investigations in England and Holland will, no doubt, 
throw new light on the history of the Pilgrims prior to their emi- 
gration ; the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop is President of the Mas- 
sachusetts Historical Society, and the author of a Memoir of his 
distinguished ancestor, Governor Winthrop, of Massachusetts ; Dr. 
John G. Palfrey is the author of a "History of New England," and 
of other works ; the Hon. Richard H. Dana, Jr., is the U. S. District 
Attorney, the author of " Two Years Before the Mast," and the 
" Seaman's Friend; " Dr. Wuislow Lewis is President of the N. E. 
Historic-Geneal. Society.] 

The following letter is from a native of Orleans, — 
one familiar with its localities, — tlie well-known Presi- 
dent of the National Bank of the Republic : 

Boston, Oct. 10, 1865. 
Messes. Crosby &; Livermoee: 

Gentlemen, — Familiar as I am with Caj^e names and Cape 
men, I have, from the first, felt assured that the wTeck 
exhibited by you on the Common was Avhat it purports to be ; 
for the testimony of well-known citizens of Cape Cod came 
simultaneously \^ ith the discovery which they made. Amos 
Otis, Esq., Cashier of the Barnstable Bank, I have long 
known as a sterling, sound, matter-of-fact man, whose judg- 
ment in what falls under his own observation is not easil)' 
misled. Mr. Otis (aside from the local papers) made the first 
published statement of the liistory and finding of the wreck. 
He saw the wreck on the beach, as did also Dr. Seabury, 



42 THE ANCIENT WEECK. 

Mr. Drew, and many others, some of whom I know per- 
sonally, and others by reputation. I have no hesitation in 
affirming my belief, that if human testimony can prove any- 
thing, the wreck you arc now exhibiting on the Common, and 
which I have seen, was washed out of the Potanumaquut 
meadows in 1863, That is enough to establish beyond 
cavil tlie antiquity of the wreck. I need not recapitulate the 
historical statements set forth in your pampldet,* " The An- 
cient Wreck : " to my mind, they seem to point unmistakably 
to this very wreck, as that of the vessel spoken of by 
Morton and Prince, and to which tradition has assigned 
the name of " Sparrow-Hawk."' Bradford, who gives full 
particulars of the voyage and loss, omitted to mention the 
name of the vessel. Within a few years much light has 
been thrown on the period of English emigration to the col- 
onies ; and it is not improbable that we may yet learn from 
English records the name of the ship which Captain Johnston 
commanded, and in which Messrs. Fells and Sibsie were 
passengers. The name, however, is of little consequence, 
compared with tlie identity of the ship, — and that, I think, 
is clearly established by the historical facts as given in your 
publication to which I have alluded. Eminent ship-builders 
who have examined the frame as now exhibited, are clearly 
of opinion that it dates far back in the history of naval 
architecture. This fact furnishes additional evidence cor- 
roborative of the opinions I have expressed above. 

Hoping that your exhibition will be eminently successful, 
I remain your ob't ser't, 

DAVID SNOW. 

The following testimony is from tlie well-known 
inventor of the improved rigging for ships, — a gentle- 
man thorouglily informed in all nautical matters : 

Boston, Oct. 21, 1865. 
Messrs. Livermobe & Crosby: 

Dear Sirs, — I liave visited the old \\Teck, on exhibition, 
and although I have not had leisure to examine into its 
history, yet, as an amateur ship-builder, I am fully convinced 
these remains are of very ancient date, and not a humbug. 
I am very truly your ser't, 

R. B. FORBES. 

• This refers to our first edition, which comprised the first thirty- 
eight pages of this work. 



THE ANCIENT WRECK. 43 

At the last (October, 1865,) meeting of the Massachu- 
setts Historical iBociety, the subject of the "old wreck " 
being under discussion, Mr. Charles Deane read the fol- 
lowing paper, which he had prepared to show the small 
size of some of the " ships " used in crossing the Atlan- 
tic, both before and at the time the vessel which we call 
the " Sparrow-Hawk," was stranded on Nauset Beach. 
Mr. Deane remarked that the list could have been much 
extended : 

Columbus had, on his first voyage of discovery, three 
vessels. "Two of them were light barks, called Caravels, 
not superior to river And coasting craft of more modern days." 
They are supposed to have been open, " and without deck in 
the centre, but built up high at the prow and stern, with fore- 
castles and cabins for the accommodation of the crew. Peter 
Mart)T, the learned contemporary of Columbus, says that 
only one of the three vessels was decked. The smallness of 
the vessels was considered an advantage by Columbus, in a 
voyage of discovery, enabling him to run close to the shores, 
and to enter shallow rivers and harbors. In his third voyage, 
when coasting the Gulf of Paria, he complained of the size 
of his ship, being nearly a hundred tons burthen." (Irving's 
Columbus, Chap. VIII.) 

These three small vessels, only one of which was expressly 
prepared for the voyage,' and was decked (the exact tonnage 
of neither is given), carried a company of one hundi'ed and 
twenty persons, including ninety mariners. 

On Su- Francis Drake's voyage for circumnavigating the 
globe, in 1577, his largest vessel was of only one hundred 
tons burthen, and the smallest but fifteen tons. The bark 
in which Sir Humphrey Gilbert perished, in 1583, was of 
ten tons only. 

Martin Pring made a voyage here in 1603, with two ves- 
sels, — one oi fifty tons, carrying thirty men, and one of 
twenty-six tons, carrying thirteen men. 

Bartholomew Gilbert came over to the southern part of 
Virginia the same year, in a bark oi fifty tons. 

Champlain and Pontgrave sailed for Canada, in the early 
part of the seventeenth century, with two vessels, of only 
twelve and fifteen tons. 



44 THE ANCIENT WRECK. 

On the voyage to Virginia, ■which resiJted in the first 
permanent settlement of the English in the United States, in 
1607, the three vessels which conveyed #ie colonists, were 
jointly but of one hundred and sixty-tons ; viz., the " Susan 
Constant," the Admiral, of one hundred tons, carrying sev- 
enty-one persons; the "Godspeed," the Yice-Admiral, of 
only forty tons, with Jlfly-two persons ; the " Discovery," 
the pinnace, of only twenty tons, with twenty-one persons. 
This number of persons included the mariners. 

Two of the ships with which Captain John Smith set sail 
for New England, in 1615, were, respectively, oi fifty and 
sixty tons. 

In a list of ships which sailed for Virginia in 1619, I find 
one of seventy tons, carrying fifty-one persons, and one of 
eighty tons, with forty- five persons. 

The "Mayflower" was of "nine score" (180) tons bur- 
then. The " Speedwell," which brought the pilgrims from 
Holland to Southampton, and which was also intended for the 
voyage to America, but proved unscaM'Orthy, was of sixty 
tons burthen. The " Fortune," which brought twenty-nine 
passenyers to Plymouth in 1621, was of only fifty-five tons. 
The " Little James," which came in 1623, was of only foi'ty- 
four tons. 

It is a marvel to \is that persons were willing to venture 
across the stormy Atlantic, at all seasons of the year, in such 
small craft ; and a still greater marvel that so many of these 
voyages Avere successfully accomplished. 

The Boston Cougrcgationalist, of Oct. 20, 1865, 
publishes a condensed history of the voyage, "wrecking, 
and discovery of the old ship, and adds : 

" We advise all our readers who can make it convenient 
to do so, to visit this relic of our Colonial history, and to do 
so soon, before its removal from its present place. There is 
not the slightest doubt among the well-infiirmed that she 
is all A^hich is claimed for her by her exhibitors, no facts of 
the past being better authenticated than her record. Even 
such an imperfect reproduction as this is, of a ship which 
crossed the ocean while the Mayflower was yet on the sea, 
is a curiosity, to be seen, we take it, nowhere else in the 
world." 



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